


Down to the River

by Ralcemns



Category: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Genre: Gen, I have too many feels for this book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9656204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralcemns/pseuds/Ralcemns
Summary: "One day a bunch of guys was standin' around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin' pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, 'Jump in.' An' he jumps. Couldn't swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An' he was so damn nice to me for pullin' him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain't done nothing like that no more."- George Milton (John Steinbeck)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I felt an urge

It was a cool spring day up by the Sacramento River. The smell of rain wafted from a jumble of trees, but you could tell the sky was nowhere near ready to drop water as it was practically cloudless. The grass reflected the light that the sun eagerly shone during the time that it had before the storm, and turtles took this opportunity to bathe in it on the about to be rewetted stones at the shore. A little farther up it, on a small hill that jutted out a little over the river, was a few boys messing around.

"George, that turtle just plopped on back into the water!" Lennie pointed out to the mentioned.

"Nevermind that, Lennie," George dismissed. He was beginning to get irritated by the amount of irrelevant interruptions that the walking jibe had brought up.

George's eyes landed on the river. Suddenly, an idea unfolded in his head.

"Say, Lennie. Jump in."

Lennie finally broke his attention from the turtles. "Jump in the river?"

"Yeah, Lennie!" one of the other boys encouraged, already snickering at pulling another one over the less aware of them. "Jump in the river!"

"Like them turtles!" another added.

George held a cunning smile of his own. "Go on. Jump in."

"Aw-awright..." Lennie agreed tentatively with a slight stutter. He didn't really want to jump into the river, but he trusted George.

The boys cheered and continued to urge Lennie farther towards the edge of the hill. Then, there, right where the dirt stopped and gave way to open air, he leapt up greatly. Every pair of eyes watched the hunky kid splash into the water, most busting into laughter.

George exhaled in amusement, but an apprehensive twist in his gut stopped his fun. He saw Lennie's head bob to the surface and arms flail.

As the other boys saw, the atmosphere shifted. They couldn't decide if this was funny anymore.

"Can he swim?" one asked.

The spluttering Lennie below answered his question for everyone, who slowly made their way down the hill, then ran all at once at the bottom. The fervance became greater as they called out to each other in teamwork, working together to swim out and haul their tease toy back to land.

George had been one of the ones to swim out. His hands helped grab ahold of the rescuee and drag him up into the sand.

"Thank you, thank you!" Lennie appreciated graciously. The events just prior had seemed to slip his mind.

"Thank you, George!" Lennie mentioned specifically. "I was gonna die! I was sure gonna die until you guys saved me!"

"Yeah," George replied, unable to say anything more.

"Thank you for pullin' me outta that river, George!" Lennie continued to thank even into the next day.

George didn't pick on him at all then. He didn't beat him, he didn't push him around, and he didn't even crack some mean joke that he knew the oblivious wouldn't understand. He simply recalled the image of Lennie reaching out for his life in that river. And he let him follow him.


End file.
